Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
December 17, 2015

The juniors had their turn and now it seems the senior volleyballers may also get their moment to shine on home soil if Barbados is chosen to host the 2018 championships.

Speaking with Barbados TODAY on the final night of the just concluded 10th Caribbean Junior Volleyball Championships, president of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Mushtaque Mohammed praised Barbados for hosting what he considered to be an exceptional tournament.

Barbados’ fans and players could be in for more sights like these if they host the 2018 Senior Championships

And with the senior volleyball championships slated to be held in Jamaica next year, Mohammed said he “would not mind” if Barbados got the go-ahead for 2018, considering they had done such a remarkable job hosting the junior event.

President of CAZOVA, Mushtaque Mohammed

“I am extremely pleased on two levels. First, from an organizational stand point Barbados has improved. There are a lot of things that were more positive than previous years, so the organization level was very good; the hotel accommodation was exceptional [and] the logistics were properly laid out, because all the teams were staying in one location.

“In terms of the technical part, we have been investing in the region for the past four years sending several coaches, giving them technical aid, providing equipment for them to train and to develop and this is the test piece. This [the championships] has shown us that our investment is bringing returns so we are happy from a developmental perspective,” Mohammed pointed out.

Also heaping praises on the host country was tournament director at the championships, Daymian Stewart, who expressed his delight at having so many countries compete this year.

“It has been a long time sine we had so many teams participating and that was good. It shows there is still interest and some development taking place in the Caribbean, so we are quite pleased Barbados did a good job. This is one of the host countries we don’t worry about because they have organized tournaments before and they maintain a high standard so we don’t really have to worry,” said Stewart, the President of Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Association.

Mohammed said witnessing Haiti win their first junior women’s title was also a proud moment.

“For the first time Haiti won a gold medal [and] that is an exceptional achievement, Haiti had been devastated four, five years ago from the earthquake and now we have seen how they have done well and we are extremely pleased.”

Even though Barbados captured their second consecutive title and Haiti made history, the Trinidadian admitted there was always room for improvement.

He said moving forward, CAZOVA might introduce a qualification tournament in an effort to improve the quality of the competition.

“There is always room for improvement. All the teams have not reached their particular level of development. The winners of these competitions go forward to the continental level and at that level they are tested, so there is room for development,” Mohammed explained.

“What we need to do in the future is to have qualification tournaments and then the finals, so in that way we can involve all the countries.”

He however pointed out that they needed to keep the numbers at a manageable size of “around eight or nine” so as to reduce the cost.